because it's already midnight in NYC...

Feliz Cumpleanos to the beautiful birthday girl who turns the dirty 30 today! (wink)

Kary, i love you more than words, more than all the stars and even more than french fries or our favorite ferrero rocher (this is true love, indeed!) we are truly blessed to call you family.

May this special birthday be full of happiness, love, cupcakes, and above all God's blessings to you and your precious family. i pray many more birthdays to celebrate together--- even if i can't hug you or give you birthday spankings in person (ha!).

You are the sweetest most genuine person i know full of kindness and no one deserves to be celebrated more! so enjoy this day, your 30th!

all the love in the world,

Micaela xo

please stop by my darling friend's blog and help me wish her a loveliest of birthdays <3

my summer reading just got better.

i truly believe a book you love is quite possibly the best gift you could give someone else. I was really excited about the blogger book swap my girl Claire co-hosted: "what better way to spread the love than to swap books with another blogging bibliophile?"

i got paired up with the beautiful jodi kendall of passport in my pocket. I couldn't have asked for a better swap partner!

here's what i sent to NYC for jodi

{The Pilot's Wife was my first introduction to Anita Shreve, one of my twinkie & bestie's favorite authors}

here's what jodi sent me

she described them as absolutely brilliant and i can't wait to start them! Peony in Love sounds intriguing (love and a ghost story intertwined? yes please!) and Girl In Hyacinth Blue i wanted to start as soon as i read the description. 

jodi, thank-you for such a fun swap. you completely made my summer reading that much more exciting xo

and another thank-you to claire and lindsay for hosting a swap after my own heart. 

if you participated, what books did you send/receive? and if you missed out on this swap, what book would you have sent? 

Wanting to Know you Wens.

one of my essential indulgences is a pedicure. 

where my toes are always painted, i've always seem to neglect my fingernails. i've had this weird belief that painted nails made my hands look chubbier. 

That was until i went to san francisco and used Claire's essie nail polish in fishnet stockings and fell in love (she also assured me i was silly in my "chubby fingers syndrome").

i saw this post on pretty.pretty.paper and was instantly smitten!

isn't the glitter gorgeous?! i'm obsessed and can't wait to try this look out.

what about you... what colors are your nails this summer? have you tried the sally hansen salon effects?

i'm fairly new to the whole nail painting party so please tell me your tips and what colors i need to try out.

for more polish inspiration check out:
+april's confetti nails
+kary's hand flirting
+LOVED elsie's wedding hands (i may just paint my ring finger nail a different color anyway!)

instead of flowers...

my husband surprises me by bringing home snacks.

usually it's hot funyons but yesterday it was hot funyons and these new mini unwrapped reeses buttercups i had been desperately wanting to try.

(phoenix, i'm wearing the pink pop nail polish you gave me)

two things: 

1. as of 10 p.m. that whole bag was empty. husband had a few but only a few.

2. my love of junk food {esp. sweets} is unmatchable. i have been battling a serious sinus infection that i actually turned down thai food for lunch on our date yesterday. who turns down the best pad thai? certainly not this girl on a good day.

and yet i didn't have a problem stuffing my face with chocolate. i might even go as far as to say it made me feel better.


i married the right man, indeed.

date night outfit details.

beige lace dress, bow clutch, red lips, and thrifted black suede heels

i wore this on a free Monday afternoon where my husband took me to see Woody Allen's latest, Midnight in Paris (and then afterwards, dessert at menchies).

As you know i'm a huge fan of woody allen films and this was no exception. i loved the literature/art, marion cotillard, and time travel. i loved the film and enjoyed that it was so much like his older films.

it was magical. the movie & our date.

The Pampered Swap.

it's true i love a good swap but this one i was especially excited about because it was my friend April's first swap! everyone should enjoy being spoiled right? what made this swap more fun was no two people were sending to each other so there was the surprise element of who got your name.

i was happy that Phoenix got me! if you've visited her blog, you immediately know what a talented artist she is. i'm always amazed by crafting goddesses... i mean instead of putting my gifts in a box, she painted a gorgeous nude on the outside. 

phoenix was worried that i'd feel "skimped on" since a lot of my gifts were hand made so she tried to make up for it. i wish i could playfully shake her! hand made to me has always meant more than anything store bought. she went above and beyond for her swap gift that i almost felt guilty unwrapping everything. 

sending me the above would have more than sufficed the actual swap (again, i love the home made lavender salt scrub she made me more than anything!) 

but then she also included the cutest vintage toy i will save for our future baby, button magnets, a venice mug to add to my coffee cup collection, and home made orange filled french bon bons that were delicious! she also sent me a plethora of snacks, including my favorite chocolate ferror rocher, articles on van gogh, another home made banner that says, 'kiss me you fool' and recipes from her kitchen to try out.

clearly i was spoiled and then some.

phoenix, i was overwhelmed by your generous heart. thank-you so much for making me feel special xoxo

i was sending out to alexandria. Since we hadn't met before the swap, i decided to do a theme for her package based on tip from april's original swap post,  'send a piece of jewelry that would make Marie Antoinette proud!' Marie Antoinette was my muse.

these were the pieces i started with : bracelet i fell in love with at target and a relaxing mixed cd i made for her

+ my momma made the doily 

i  wanted everything to smell like dessert (and of course i included my favorite cookies!). She mentioned being a newly minted red lipstick lover so i bought sally hansen's red crackle overcoat to match, along with my favorite Boots hand cream. 

+ you can see alex's sweet blog post about what i sent at her blog here.

thanks april for hosting-- cheers to your first swap! 

Sharing Sundays... Little Grey Goose.

i'm a huge fan of woody allen's films so i giggled when i saw woody allen as a paper doll by little grey goose in Austin. Perfect gift for the Annie Hall lover in your life. 

i might have to get the Ziggy Stardust paper doll and stick him in a love letter to my twinkie. 

etsy shop : little grey goose

the closest relationship i will ever have.

i'm really missing my twinkie! we took this photo almost as soon as we got back to claire's house from the airport.

me and marianne would sometimes fall behind claire & jessie just talking and jessie once joked, "welcome to my college years." 


today i am really missing her. 


especially since i was supposed to be going to the NKOTB/BSB concert with her tomorrow. 


i'll miss hearing you scream over your jordan knight twinkie but have so much fun even if i can't be there... because i would never trade our time in San Francisco together! xoxo

happy things to end the week with.

♥ i fell in love with Emi-Jay hair ties while using claire's in SF. She blogged about how amazing they were before and i should have listened. Cute, sturdy, and won't dent your hair if you decide to take your pony tail down. i instantly ordered Emi-Jay's pearl collection.

♥ i've been swooning over NBA Finals MVP (and my man who led his team to the Championship!) Dirk Nowitzki in glasses

photo + recipe link : La Mia Vita

♥ i made israeli couscous salad for lunch yesterday and just about ate the whole bowl! delicious and healthy and so easy to make! (i also used yellow tomatoes like the recipe suggested) 

♥ will you look at that face? i'm clearly an auntie who's smitten. my adorable niece sophia who recently turned 4 and already knows how to work the camera. this was at her dance recital.


Happy Friday Lovies!!! what happy things are you ending the week with? 

+please leave a link below if you do a post-- i'd love to share in your happiness xo

Wanting to Know you Wens.

cropped tops are my latest fashion obsession. 

i was on the search for one to bring with me to San Francisco and fell in love with this gorgeous print. i love how it buttons up the backside.

 {forgive this cell phone pic and my doggie's crate in the shot} i took this photo to show april (who knew of my hunt for the perfect crop top)

me and katy at a cute bar in SF

i not only love the print, but i also love that it's not completely cropped because no one wants to see that much of my stomach! {especially not me}

what's your latest fashion obsession? 

friendship bracelets? bell bottoms? rompers (which i will always love)? bling earrings like claire?

+ let's talk fashion trends below +

i don't think there's anything better than your girlfriends + wine in one magical city.

my heart is full after experiencing the girls trip of my dreams with claire, jessie, and my twinkie marianne in San Francisco! 

my sweet claire was a most gracious hostess, sharing the magic of the bay area with all of us (and if you've been to SF, you know there's so much to see it's impossible to cram it into 4 days). Even though jessie and us twins go back to college, all of us together felt like we had been close girlfriends for years. In fact, the first night we were all together we stayed up drinking wine and sharing life stories til 4 a.m. (which really was like 6 a.m. to marz & jessie)!

and that's pretty much how every night was... one giant sleepover swooning over Jax Teller (claire introduced us to the amazingness that is "sons of anarchy").

(sporting my Tumbleweeds sunglasses!)

jessie is a true hippie at heart that it was a dream come true for her to be walking around Haight and Ashbury. We passed Mom's Body Shop Tattoos and Piercings and as soon as jess heard the tattoo gun, she was in heaven. She had been wanting to get imagine on her foot and on the spot she decided she must get it while on Haight street. isn't it gorgeous? in john lennon's handwriting no less!

 our friend katy also lives in SF and met up with us. once upon a time we were room mates and they all worked together at the Newspaper in Wichita Falls, Texas. Now here we are, four girls from small texas/oklahoma towns in one of the most beautiful cities!

{wearing my pastel and gold plated crystal druzy necklace by sadie designs and vintage italian pink purse from bows and sparrow}

pretty sure we sang the Full House song when we saw the Painted Ladies and discussed episodes of Full House like they were people we actually knew! hilarious.

and of course you can't have a girls trip (especially girls who love their wine) without going to Napa Valley! it reminded me so much of Tuscany. We went to Luna, Rubicon Estate (where i purchased Sofia  Rose & a pink sofia wine stopper), and felt like rock stars at Larkmead Vineyards.

btw, i love the dress i'm wearing! i bought it at claire's favorite boutique, Ambiance. One of the first things she ever gave me was a headband from there. 

 i was really smitten drinking coppola wine! 

with my better half on the porch of larkmead

besides napa and baker beach, we experienced some of SF's amazing restaurants. Pretty sure i haven't stop dreaming of Zachary's Chicago Pizza, the salsa and veggie burrito at Papalote, the bagna cauda (minus the anchovies) at The Stinking Rose, hazelnut + strawberry shortcake double at scream sorbet, sangria and rainbow salad at Burma Superstar, wood-fired pizza and the best gin tonics at pizzaiolo, and the ever popular tostada at Mustards in Napa Valley.

i miss these girls so much! (i already want to start planning our next trip) what a truly amazing time with friends i love so much.